For a number of years now many world level teams / riders and record attempts on the track have actually been performed on 11spd chains due to the much lower friction vs 1/8th track chains.
Big, heavy 1/8th track chains are by their design much higher friction as almost all (but not all) are a “Bushing” style design. This means that surround the pin is a cylinder of metal which is the bushing, and then over the top of that sits the roller. A bushing style design introduces 2 extra and large sliding friction surfaces vs a derailleur chain where the roller sits directly on the inner plate flanges.
This design along with the very tight tolerances of many track chains makes preparing a fast track chain notoriously difficult. It is very hard to ensure that factory grease – which you do NOT want to ride, is cleaned out from deep inside between pin and bushing, and that then your chosen top lube or wax is able to penetrate into this space.
The YBN SLA 410 is, as far as i am aware, the only 1/8th track chain that is a normal roller chain design and not a bushing style design. This not only makes it as easy to clean and properly prep / race prep as a road chain, but i had a hunch for a long time that removing the bushing would mean it is much lower friction than other track chains.
After a long wait, i have recently finally received the efficiency test results from a top trusted test lab who are currently commissioned to test a bunch of track chains for a number of countries ahead of 2021 olympics.
The YBN SLA 410 absolutely smashed it out of the park, with an efficiency result getting down to 3.6w loss at its peak when race treatment fully broken in, and it held steady from 3.6 to 3.8w range for many hours of testing. Previous testing for izumi standards and super toughness fully race prepped the best that had been managed averaged in the 5.8 to 6.1w range. Remember these losses are scalable to load and will approximately double every 250w, so that efficiency gap will approximately double every 250w leading to an approx 10w greater efficiency for the ybn sla 41o at around the 1000w mark. Thats big.
The icing on the cake is the YBN SLA 410’s weight and tensile strength. It has long been assumed the Izumi super toughness would be, well, the strongest track chain – and its reputation is such it is favoured by top track riders the world over. Zero Friction Cycling has one of the worlds only independent tensile test machines, and am currently involved as well in tensile testing track chains for Cycling australia (and others…).
The Izumi standard recorded a tensile test result of just over 9200 newtons, the Izumi Super toughness just over 9600newtons, and the YBN SLA 410 over 10,500 newtons.
The YBN SLA 41o is not only 10% stronger, it is much lighter, weighing 280grams for a 106link length vs super toughness which is 384 grams.
In summary, the YBN SLA 410 is currently now BY FAR Zero Friction Cyclings number one recommended track chain due to;
> 40% lower friction vs previous gold standard track chain
> 27% Lighter vs Super Toughness
> Approx 10% stronger
> Not a bushing style design making it vastly easier to prep with a proven fast lubricant choice (Mspeedwax, UFO, absoluteBlack Graphene, Silca hot melt or drip, Tru-Tension Tungsten Race)
**NOTE – the 41o does come with a 1/8th connecting link however if you are over around the 1000w mark, i would consider adding the universal joining link as a stronger connection option**
Zero Friction cycling offers a range of preparation options from as is with factory grease, to ultrasonic clean and mspeedwax, to fully optimised race prep (chain is broken in, many rounds of ultrasonic cleaning, ultrasonic wax application of fresh mspeedwax, wax break in, race powder application runs). ZFC also offers absoluteBlack Graphene prep for the YBN SLA 410 only due to difficulty of prepping bushing style track chains with this lube. AB graphene has EXTREME longevity per treatment, most could easily go an entire track season on the one treatment so this option.
Zero Friction Cycling will continue to stock the izumi / izumi super toughness because of its reputation some riders simply have to stay with what they know – however obviously in the face of new actual data, it is clear the ybn SLA 41o being much faster, lighter, stronger and easier to prep – that this is ZFC’s current number one recommendation, by miles.
**Other track chains are currently being tested, should something better the ybn 410, obviously this product page and stock offerings will be updated**
